Lions guard Jonah Jackson is readily setting aside contract talk right now

On a Detroit Lions' offensive line that has three first-round picks, Jonah Jackson has become a mainstay himself. A third-round pick out of Ohio State in 2020, he went to the Pro Bowl as an alternate in 2021 and has started all 45 games he has played in three seasons.

With new contracts coming fairly soon for Penei Sewell and Amon-Ra St. Brown, and maybe Jared Goff, the Lions may have some tough decisions to make. But their cap space situation looks very good moving forward, with notable young players on rookie contracts as far out as 2026 or 2027. So they can pretty much pay who they want to, and there has been a general priority under general manager Brad Holmes to retain their own.

Entering the final year of his rookie deal, Jackson has made it clear he wants to be a Lion for his entire career. A rough projection of his contract extension, from SI.com's Christian Booher, landed at four years and $75 million. Presumably not all guaranteed, but let's put the guaranteed money in the $55-$60 million range if that's the kind of deal he gets.

Jonah Jackson not focused on his next contract right now

When contract extension matters come up, especially during preparation for a new season, players are conditioned to say little or nothing beyond what can be called an expected line. On Monday, via Nolan Bianchi of The Detroit News, Jackson came through.

"I couldn’t tell you (where contract talks are at),” “I don’t know. Maybe they’re handling it with the agent, but I’m just doing what I do. As long as I do that, everything else will fall into place.”"

- Jonah Jackson

If contract extension talks are anywhere, or nowhere, with the Lions right now, Jackson's agent has surely told him so and he's not going say that publicly. But he is right to say if he takes care of his end of things, working hard now and playing well once the season starts, everything else will fall into place.

Wanting to be a Lion long-term aside, with the team's desire to keep him at his market value in the equation, Jackson is lined up to become a pretty wealthy man no later than the middle of next March. But here in late-July, soon to be early August, he's not focused on that.